Matthäus Merian (1593-1650). China Veteribus Sinarum Regio nunc Incolis Tame Dicta. (Frankfurt: 1638). Copperplate engraving with beautiful hand color on heavy laid paper. Strong impression. 10 ½ x 13 1/2 in. to neat line; sheet: 12 ½ x 15 5/8 in. (full margins). Minor tear along top margin. Very good condition. $1,100.
$1,100.00
A Desirable 17th Century Cornerstone Map of the Chinese Empire
This handsome, hand colored map is based on Johan Blaeu’s first map of China. The geography is largely inaccurate, for example, showing Korea as an island. Korea and Japan are prominently outlined. Lake Chiamay is on the left, the legendary source of four great Asian rivers. The Chinese Wall is shown, with the following text in Latin: Murus quadringentarum leucarum inter montium crepidines a Rege Chinae contra Tartarorum ab hac parte eruptiones, extructus (A wall of four hundred leagues has been constructed between the edges of the mountains by the King of China against the invasions of the Tartars in this part.) Two sailing ships, a sea monster and swash lettering decorate the ocean. There is a beautiful title cartouche in the upper right with a Chinese nobleman and lady.
Matthäus Merian, the leading German illustrator of the 17th century, was born in Basel in 1593. He learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zurich and subsequently worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy, Paris, and the Low Countries. In 1618 he went to Frankfurt, wherein in 1618, he married the eldest daughter of J.T. de Bry, publisher and engraver. After de Bry died in 1623, he took over his business. De Bry’s business remained in Merian’s family until 1726, when a fire destroyed it. In 1635 he began the series Theatrum Europaeum. Between 1642 and 1688, he published Martin Zeiller’s Topographia Germaniae, with more than 2,000 plates etched and engraved by himself and his sons Matthäus and Caspar. He also took over and completed the later parts and editions of the Grand Voyages and Petits Voyages, initially started by de Bry in 1590. Matthäus Merian died after in 1650 in Bad Schwalbach near Wiesbaden.
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